Auburn fullback Jay Prosch in the middle of one of the Tigers' winter workouts. (Auburn IMG Network)

AUBURN, Alabama -- Gus Malzahn brought in Ryan Russell to take over as Auburn's strength and conditioning coach, in part, because of Russell's ability to train players for the rigors of playing in the hurry-up, no-huddle offense.

And after three months under Russell's care, Auburn's players have learned what the new strength and conditioning coach expects, a program with little room for muscle recovery as the Tigers shuttle from workout to workout as quickly as possible.

Russell's workouts have been exhausting.

"We're moving around a lot more, we're
getting deep into things. Basically, you never get to
catch your breath," Tigers defensive tackle Gabe Wright said. "it's Coach Russell's standpoint to up-tempo the workouts.
You can do bench, and then run over to a whole another section of drills."

Russell originally served as a graduate assistant under his predecessor, Kevin Yoxall, in 2005 and 2006, but Russell's plan has been a shift from the workouts Auburn underwent during Yoxall's time on the Plains.

Under Yoxall, according to the players, the Tigers did a lot more running and stretching beyond the obvious power lifts. Russell's program focuses on changing direction quickly and lower-body explosiveness.

"He's really focusing on speed, getting our lower body
stronger, and really just bulking us up, helping us gain weight but still being
able to move," tackle Greg Robinson said.

Russell and the rest of Auburn's coaching staff have also instituted a system of accountability and evaluation in workouts based on jersey color. The lowest level of players wear orange jerseys, and they have to earn their way to blue -- the second level -- and green, the top level.

"The coaches would grade each player according to their
performance in the drill, how much effort they gave, how they finished, their
composure as far as acting tired, hands on knees, stuff like that, leadership," fullback Jay Prosch said. "If they feel like you're slacking, it's a deduction, so
it's an overall grade. If you're above a certain point, it shows your jersey
color."

At the beginning, only three players -- Prosch, Wright and defensive end Dee Ford -- wore green.

As spring practice approaches, the rest of the roster has followed suit. Only a handful of players still wear the blue jerseys, and nobody is still wearing orange.

"Since Day 1, it's been intense," Wright said. "The main thing is we wanted to get everybody out of the orange jerseys."

Player reaction to Russell's workouts, which start at 6 a.m. on a daily basis, has been positive, both in interviews with the players and tweets from the Tigers that have popped up ever since winter workouts started.

"You feel that in the locker room," C.J. Uzomah said. "We're pumped up, we know we have to
get better, we're worried about ourselves right now. We know that this spring,
next Wednesday, is going to come really fast, and we've got to be ready for
that."